Webinar - Ma'iingan: Wolves and the Anishinaabe People

Part of our CCI Seminar Series - this presentation focuses on the cultural aspects of wolves and their relationship to the Anishinaabe people, the Native Americans of the Great Lakes. The controversial 2021 wolf hunt in Wisconsin has prompted tribal communities to take a stand in protecting wolves based upon ancient cultural teachings.
Michael Waasegiizhig Price is the traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) specialist at the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission in Odanah, Wisconsin. He is Anishinaabe and an enrolled member of Wikwemikong First Nations in Canada. His role as TEK specialist involves integrating Anishinaabe language and cultural perspectives into research methods and resource management to make science more culturally relevant. Michael received his Master of Science in forestry from the University of Montana and a Bachelor of Arts in biology from Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas. He also received his Certificate of Ojibwe Language Instruction from Bemidji State University.
Video Transcript:
Jacob: Welcome everybody, happy Tuesday afternoon or late morning, depending on where you are. Very happy to have you join us for this installment of the CCI seminar series. As you may know, this seminar series is designed to bring people into Defenders, to talk with Defenders, but also to be part of the audience, if we were in person and in downtown DC, we would be having this meeting in the in the conference room downstairs in the boardroom and opening the doors literally to let people in and join us and see different speakers who bring different ideas, something, a little bit out of the ordinary, relative to what Defenders might normally hear from to help expand our thinking about conservation and the many dimensions of it. So, I'm really excited for today's speaker to join us, and I'm going to turn it over to Naanibah to do the introduction and everything, because she has been shepherding this all the way through here. So Naanibah off to you. Thanks.
Naanibah: Thanks Jacob. Yeah. Good afternoon. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for coming to our CCI seminar series. My name is Naanibah Begay I'm the coordinator for the center for conservation innovation. Before we get started, I'd like to remind everyone of a few items to keep in mind during this presentation. This talk will be recorded and available on CCI's website in a few days. Please make sure your microphones are muted. We will have a question-and-answer portion at the end, so please hold your questions until then, or add them to the chat box and we will get to them at the conclusion of the presentation with that. With that, I'm excited to welcome our seminar speaker for today. Michael Wassegijig is the traditional ecological knowledge specialists at the great lakes, Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission in Odanah Wisconsin. He is Anishinaabe and an enrolled member of Wikwemikong First Nations in Canada. His role as a TK specialist involves integrating Anishinaabi language and cultural perspectives into research methods and resource management to make science more culturally relevant. Michael received his Master of Science in forestry from the University of Montana. He also received his certificate of Ojibwe language instruction from Bemidji State University. And with that, Michael, thank you so much for joining us today. you can begin whenever you're ready.
Michael: Boozhoo gakina awiiya. (Hello everyone) Michael Price Waasegiizhig indizhinikaaz (Michael Price Waasegiizhig is my name) Makwa nindoodem. (I am Bear Clan) I believe I forgot one word in my Ojibwe language introduction. So, I'm going to go ahead and pause that. Yes. My name is Michael Price Wassegijig. I am the traditional ecological knowledge specialist, at what we call GLIFWC, located in Odanah Wisconsin. And I'm very happy and honored to present to all of you today and I understand that everybody here is, works for the Defenders of Wildlife. So, I'm very honored today to share some of my knowledge with you today. My background is in science. I have a master’s in forestry from the University of Montana, but one of my lifelong, journey, I guess my lifelong journey is to seek out indigenous knowledge from the Anishinaabe people, which are the native people from the great lakes that would include the Ojibwe, the Odawa, the Potawatomi, the Menominee, and all our homelands are both in the United States and in Canada. We all speak the same language, we all have the same culture, but we collectively call ourselves Anishinaabe and, we'll hear more of that, word a little bit, throughout the presentation....
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[@beadingbusily]

Migwech for offering up the knowledge and reminder..

[@ntvrthmn]

In 1971 I attended Mount Senario College in Ladysmith, Wisconsin for the Summer and Fall terms. There were 2 Anishinaabekwe there, one who Nanibah is the spitting image of. That Kwe had a friend who was Minogaamo. They both spoke a language that was unknown to me at the time. I would really like to find those two as I have been learning the language, even at the age of 71. I am originally from Cornell, WI but now live in Alabama, though I fly south to Panama, Central America, for the Winter. Miigwech, especially if you can help me find them.

[@bluejay5392]

Michael, this presentation was so beautifully done. You are a wonderful teacher of truth. When you mentioned the ceremony for the wolves killed in the Wisconsin slaughter, it brought me to tears and warmed my heart to know they had a proper send off to the spirit world. Thank you Defenders for posting this on TH-cam.